Vibrating equipment



Jan. 25, 1955 F. w. PORTER VIBRATING EQUIPMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Jan. 12, 1950 WNTOR Hank V PorZ'er .31 I

Jan. 25, 1955 F. w. PORTER VIBRATING EQUIPMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 12, 1950 ATTO Jan. 25, 1955 F. w. PORTER 2,700,198

VIBRATING EQUIPMENT Filed Jan. 12, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 0 9 Q iu o D N O l \g O I 83\ I 'I Q W H I I II ii I LL...

JYYVE'NTOR Frank M RarZ'er Y VIBRATIN G EQUIPMENT Frank W. Porter, Montgomery, 11]., assignor to Productive Equipment rporation, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Application .lanuary 12, 1950, Serial No. 138,127

3 Claims. (Cl. 22-1) This invention relates to improvements in vibrating equipment. More particularly this invention relates to an improved shakeout which raises castings upwardly, places them upon a vibrating grid to remove the molding sand, and then disposes of that sand.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a shakeout which raises castings upwardly, places them upon a vibrating grid to remove the molding sand, and then disposes of that sand.

Where molding sand is used to form the molds into which metal can be poured to form castings, the sand must be removed from the castings before those castings can be machined. Customarily the castings with the molding sand around and adherent to them which are referred to as poured molds, are transported to a vibrating device which has a grid at the top thereof, those castings are lifted up and set on the grid and then those castings are shaken until most of the sand falls away from them. Because many of the castings are heavy, the task of lifting those castings up to the level of the grid is laborious and Wearing. Elforts have been made to avoid the lifting of the heavy castings to the grid atop the vibrating device, and one of those efforts contemplated a low-lying vibrating device. The grid of such a vibrating device was low enough that the castings could easily be shifted to that grid. However. the disposition of the sand shaken from castings by such a vibrating device was troublesome; that problem being met in some instances by mounting the vibrating device over a trough in the floor of the foundry, and by mounting a sand-removing belt in that trough. Where such a trough and belt arrangement is employed, the sand will fall down into the trough; most of it coming to rest upon the sand-removing belt. While this arrangement is workable, it involves extremely heavy costs; the cost of installation of the belt in the trough being very high, and the cost of periodic removal of sand which falls off of the belt and tends to clog the trough also being high. The present invention obviates such cost and yet avoids the labor previously experienced in removing the molding sand from castings by providing a shakeout which has a vibrating device mounted on a wheeled support, a skip hoist that lifts the poured molds up to the grid of the vibrating device, and a conveyor that passes under the vibrating device but carries the sand upwardly for discharge into a wheeled receptacle. The provision of the skip hoist makes it easy to elevate the poured molds to the level of the grid atop the vibrating device even though that vibrating device is mounted above the lower end of the conveyor. The conveyor itself will have an upwardly inclined portion that can carry the sand upwardly above a wheeled receptacle for discharge into that receptacle. Such a shakeout requires very little physical exertion to operate it, it does not require a trough in the foundry floor, and it is a self-contained unit that can easily be moved about in the foundry. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a shakeout which has a vibrating device mounted on a Wheeled support, a skip hoist that lifts poured molds onto the vibrating device, and a conveyor that passes under the vibrating device but carries the sand upwardly for discharge into a wheeled receptacle.

When castings are shaken sufiiciently to remove molding sand from them, a considerable quantity of fine molding sand becomes admixed with air and permeates the air within the foundry. That sand, which is usually of colloidal size, can sometimes constitute a threat to the health of the persons working in the foundry; sometimes caus ited States Patent 0 ing respiratory diseases. In addition that fine sand can sometimes deleteriously affect the rotating parts of machinery in the foundry. It is therefore frequently desirable to minimize the amount of fine sand in the air within the foundry. The present invention makes it possible to minimize almost to the point of elimination, the amount of fine sand in the air within the foundry by enclosing certain portions of the shakeout with a housing, and by exhausting air from that housing. With this arrangement, air can be passed continually through the housing to draw air and its entrained sand particles away from the grid of the vibrating device, away from the sand-removing conveyor, and away from the wheeled receptacle into which the sand is emptied. The withdrawal of air from these critical areas of the shakeout assures the with drawal, from the vicinity of the shakeout, of the fine sand which becomes admixed with the air; thus the likelihood of air with entrained sand particles escaping into the air within the foundry is greatly lessened. It is therefore an object of the present invention to enclose certain portions of a shakeout with a housing to draw air and entrained sand away from the grid of the vibrating device, away from the sand-removing conveyor, and away fron the wheeled receptacle into which the sand is emptie The skip hoist provided by the present invention is made so it can be provided with a bucket-type receptacle to carry small castings or with a roller conveyor platform-type receptacle to carry large castings. The bucket will be of usual form and construction, and it will raise small castings upwardly and deposit them upon the grid of the vibrating device. The bucket will, in its loading position, be at or below the level of the conveyor on which the poured molds are supported. The roller conveyor platform will be provided with upstanding walls at the sides and inner end thereof and those walls will keep the poured molds from sliding off of that platform. That roller conveyor platform will, when in loading position, incline slightly downwardly toward the wall adjacent its inner end; and that inclination will keep poured molds from sliding backwardly off of the outer edge of that platform. Where the skip hoist is provided with a roller conveyor platform, it is possible to place that platform in register with a roller conveyor within the foundry, and then slide the castings along the roller conveyor and onto the platform of the skip hoist receptacle. By providing a skip hoist that selectively uses a small receptacle to carry small, light-weight castings and a large receptacle to carry large, heavy-weight castings, and by sett ng those receptacles so they are, when in loading position, below the level of the conveyor that supports the poured molds, the present invention eliminates all of the manual lifting of poured molds previously required in removing the molding sand from castings. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a skip hoist which selectively uses a bucket-type receptacle for small, light-weight castings and a roller conveyor platformtype receptacle for large, heavy-weight castings, and which holds the receptacles, in loading position, below the level of the roller conveyor that supports the poured molds.

The sand-removing conveyor provided by the present invention is a broad flexible support which is guided for movement downwardly below the discharge outlet of the vibrating device, but is also guided for movement upwardly to a point above a wheeled receptacle adjacent the shakeout. That conveyor is thus enabled to pass beneath the discharge outlet of the vibrating device to receive the sand shaken from the castings, and then to move upwardlyto carry that sand to a point where it can be emptied into the wheeled receptacle. Because the wheeled receptacle must be fairly deep to avoid frequent emptying, and because the height and length of the shakeout must be limited, the conveyor must have a portion thereof inclined upwardly at a steep angle. Such an angle for that portion of the conveyor makes it difilcult to keep the sand from sliding down or off of the sides of the conveyor. The present invention makes it pos sible for the conveyor to carry the sand upwardly at a steep angle by equipping that conveyor with transverselydirccted, upstanding projections and with longitudinallydirected, upstanding side plates. The projections and side plates define sand-carrying compartments which hold the sand against shifting relative to the conveyor. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a conveyor with transversely-extending upstanding projections and with longitudinally-extending side plates.

The longitudinally-exteudiug side plates of the conveyor are dimensioned so the trailing edge of each side plate overlaps and extends rearwardly of the leading edge of the next succeeding side plate. The amount of overlap is such that no gap appears between the adjacent edges of adjacent side plates even though the direction of movement of the conveyor experiences sharp changes. With this arrangement the side plates constitute continuous walls at the sides of the conveyor. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a conveyor with a plurality of longitudinally-extending side plates that have their trailing edges overlapping and extending rearwardly of the leading edges of the next succeeding plates.

The side plates provided by the present inven ion are narrow at the bottom, to permit sharp changes of direction of movement of the conveyor, and are wide at the top, to enable the trailing edge of each plate to overlap the leading edges of the next succeeding plates during sharp changes of direction by the conveyor. Such plates are trapezoidal in form, and will permit sharp changes of direction by the conveyor without loss of sand. it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide trapezoidal side plates which have their widest dimensions at the tops thereof.

Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention should become apparent from an examination of the drawing and accompanying description.

In the drawing and accompanying description a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown and described but it is to be understood that the drawing and accompanying description are for the purpose of illustration only and do not limit the invention and that the invention will be defined by the appended claims.

In the drawing, Fig. l is a plan view of a shakeout Which lifts poured molds onto a vibrating device, removes the sand from the castings, and disposes of that sand,

Fig. 2 is a side-elevational view of the shakeout shown in Fig. l, with the side panel of the sand-removing conveyor removed,

Fig. 3 ,is an end-elevational in Figs. 1 and 2,

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a portion of the conveyor incorporated in the shakeout of Figs. 1-6,

Pig. 5 is a cross-sectional end view of the conveyor shown in Fig. 4,

. Fig. 6 is a side-elevational view of a conveyor of Figs. 4 and 5,

view of the shakeout shown side plate for the Fig. 7 is a plan view of a side plate and a portion of a transversely-extending upstanding projection for the conveyor of Figs. 4 and 5, and

Fig. 8 is a broken-away side-elevational view of the housing and supporting structure for the conveyor of Figs. 4 and 5.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the numeral 10 generally denotes a base for the shakeout provided by the present invention. That base overlies and is secured to a plurality of transversely-extending reinforcing channels 12 which are connected together by a number of longitudinally-extending elements 13. The base 10, channels 12 and elements 13 are rigidly secured together, as by welding, to form a sturdy support for the vibrating device, the skip hoist, and the conveyor of the shakeout. This support is equipped with spaced wheels 14 at one end thereof and with spaced wheels 16 at the other end thereof. The wheels '14 and the wheels 16 are so spaced apart that they can be supported and guided by spaced rails 11; the rails 11 being spaced apart the distance which is standard in foundries. The wheels '14 and 16 have radially-extending flanges, and those flanges maintain the wheels in aligned engagement with rails 11. With this arrangement, the shakeout is usuable with the trackways already provided in foundries and does not require the installation of special equipment in the foundries.

The wheels 16 are the driving wheels for the wheeled support of the shakeout, and those wheels are rigidly mounted at opposite ends of :an axle 18. That axle is rotatablymounted in bearings, not shown, on-the wheeled support, and a sprocket wheel 20 is secured to axle 18 intermediate the ends of that axle. Sprocket wheel 26 receives a sprocket chain 22, and that sprocket chain extends upwardly into a transmission 24 which is mounted on the base 10. The transmission 24 is controlled by a lever 26; and that lever can be shifted to either of two positions. In one of its positions, the lever 26 causes the transmission 24 to connect the motor 28, mounted on base It), with the sprocket wheel 20 on axle 18. At such time, pressing of push button 25 will energize the motor 28 and cause the motor to drive the wheeled support forwardly along the rails 11; while pressing of push button 27 will energize motor 28 in such a way that the wheeled support will be driven along the rails 11 in the opposite direction. In this way, the wheeled support can be moved along the rails 11 to any desired position.

When the lever 26 is set in the other of its two positions, it causes the transmission 24 to disconnect motor 28 from sprocket wheel 20 and to connect that motor with a sprocket wheel, not shown, of the skip hoist. At such time, pressing of either of the push buttons 34 on the skip hoist housing 32 will cause that skip hoist to raise the poured molds upwardly and deposit them on the grid of the vibrating device. Two push buttons 34 are provided, one at each side of the housing 32, for the convenience of the operator. The skip hoist is provide with an electrical circuit of customary design which will raise the skip bucket or platform up to the top of the skip hoist, tilt the bucket or platform so it can deposit its castings upon the grid of the vibrating device, and then return the bucket or platform to loading position.

The use of lever 26 and transmission 2-; is desirable since it enables the one motor to drive the wheeled support and the skip hoist. This can be done without any increase in the size of the motor 23 since the Wheeled support will be stationary when the skip hoist is moving, and vice versa. A long, flexible, electrical lead, not shown, will extend from the motor 28 to a source of power to permit the wheeled support to move considerable distances along the rails 11.

The skip hoist is located intermediate the ends of the wheeled support for the shakeout, and that skip hoist is secured to that support. That skip hoist will, when used to lift small, light-weight castings, be provided with a bucket-type receptacle of usual shape and configuration. Where, however, thatskip hoist is used to lift large, heavyweight castings a roller conveyor platform-type receptacle 3% will be provided. The receptacle 3% will have upstanding walls at the sides and inner end thereof, and will have a section of roller conveyor as the bottom 31 thereof. In loading position, the bottom 31 will be inclined downwardly toward the wall at the inner end of that receptacle at a slight angle. The upstanding wall of the receptacle 30 and the downward inclination of its bottom 31 keep the castings from sliding out of that receptacle.

The receptacles of the skip hoist will be confined and guided for movement by channel-like guides, not shown, in the skip hoist housing 32. These guides will confine the skip hoist receptacle for movement upwardly above the centerline of the wheeled support, and will then tilt that receptacle and cause it to discharge its load within the skip hoist housing '32. The skip hoist housing 32 and the skip hoist receptacle are so dimensioned relative to the wheeled support that the top of the bucket or the upper surface of the bottom 31 will be at, or slightly below, the level of roller conveyors 33 in the foundry. As a result, when the wheeled support is positioned on the rails 11, so the skip hoist receptacle is in register with a roller conveyor 33 in the foundry, the operator can easily load castings into the skip hoist receptacle by just sliding those castings along the roller conveyors 33 and pushing them onto the roller conveyor platform 3% or tipping them into a skip bucket.

Once the poured molds are in the skip hoist receptacle, the control switch 34, on the skip hoist housing 32, will be pressed. That control switch will, when the lever '26 is in the second of its two positions, cause the motor 23 and the transmission 24 to drive the skip hoist receptacle from loading position .to unloading position and back again.

When the skip hoist recptacle is in its upper position it will discharge the castings downwardly onto the grid 42 of the vibrating device 33. One end of the vibrating device 38 extends partially into the skip hoist housing 32 to partially underlie the skip hoist receptacle. An apron 5.6 is disposed in the skip ghoist housing 32, and it extends between the left-hand wall of that housing and the lefthand end of the grid 42 of the vibrating device 38. The apron 56 and the left hand portion of grid 42 will receive castings from the skip hoist receptacle, and those castings will work their way onto the grid 42 of the vibrating device. That grid has relatively large openings in it, and those openings will permit the sand which is freed from the castings by the action of the vibrating device 38, to pass downwardly through the grid. The grid is preferably made of a tough cast steel; manganese steel being quite useful. The apron 56 and the grid 42 are inclined downwardly, and that downward inclination causes the castings to move to the lower end of the grid 42.

A bar 40 is provided at the lower end of the grid 42, and that bar projects upwardly above the surface of the grid 42 about an inch. That bar will hold any lumps of molding sand, that are too large to pass through the openings in the grid 42, until the vibrating castings atop grid 42 break those lumps into smaller lumps that can pass through grid 42. The bar 40 will also hold the castings on the grid 42 for a sufliciently long time to assure substantial shaking out of cores within those castings. The castings will eventually jump over the bar 40, but before they do so they will be freed of almost all molding sand and core sand.

The sand which passes downwardly through the openings in grid 42 will fall through discharge outlet 43. If desired, a perforated screen could be mounted in the vibrating device 38 below the grid 42 and above the discharge outlet 43. That screen would have openings large enough to pass individual particles of molding sand but small enough to prevent the passage of metal particles through to the discharge outlet 43. Such a perforated screen would remove sharp objects from the molding sand and would ready that sand for re-use.

The apron 56 and the grid 42 are inclined and will cause the castings, lumps of sand, and metal pieces to work their way toward the lower end of grid 42. The castings and any lumps of sand that are not sufficiently broken up by the action of the castings, and any large pieces of metal will jump over the bar 40 and slide onto the discharge chute 44 at the righthand end of grid 42. That chute can be placed in register with a wheeled receptacle, and it will discharge lumps of sand, metal pieces, and castings into that receptacle.

A deflecting plate 54 is secured to and extends inwardly beyond the rear wall of the vibrating device 38. That plate will be in register with the skip hoist receptacle as that receptacle begins to unload; and it will deflect any sand, spilling from that receptacle, back onto the apron 56 or grid 42. In doing so, the plate 54 makes sure that sand is kept away from the vibrationimparting mechanism of the vibrating device.

The vibrating device 38 is held by four resilient mountings 46 which are supported by channels 47 on the wheeled support. These mountings are preferably made in accordance with the principles and teachings of United States patent application Serial Number 71,267 filed January 17, 1949, by Lewis E. Soldan for Vibrating Equipment. Such mounting devices permit relatively undampened vibration of vibrating device, and they will minimize transmission of vibrations to the wheeled support of the shakeout. Vibrations for the vibrating device 38 and its grid 42 will be provided by rotatable, vibration-imparting equipment confined within castings 48 at the opposite sides of the vibrating device 38. That rotatable vibration-imparting equipment will preferably be made in accordance with the principles and teachings of United States Patent Number 2,267,143 issued December 23, 1941, to Lewis E. Soldan for Vibrating Screen. Such rotatable vibration-imparting equipment will provide a carefully controlled vibration for the vibrating device 38; and it will enable the grid 42 to free the castings of the sand adherent to them. The rotation of the rotatable, vibration-imparting equipment within the casings 48 will be assured by motor 58 and belts 52. The belts 52 extend between a pulley on motor shaft 50 and a pulley on the shaft of the vibration-imparting equipment within the casings 48.

A platform 58 is provided at one side of the shakeout, and the top of that platform is roughened or corrugated to enable the operators shoes to grip that platform. The platform 58 enables the operators to stand adjacent the vibrating device 38 and determine the rate at which fresh poured molds can be added to the grid 42.

'6 In addition, that platform enables the operatof to stand adjacent the grid 42 and pry or lift pieces of metal over the bar 40, if and when that should become necessary.

A pair of sprocket wheels 60 are spaced apart at opposite ends of a shaft, not shown, which is supported below the vibrating device 38. The shaft, on which the sprocket wheels 60 are mounted, extends into bearing housings 62 at the opposite ends thereof; and those housings are supported and carried by reciprocable rods 64. These rods extend through a portion of the wheeled support, and they can be reciprocated relative to that support to adjust the horizontal position of the shaft which carries the sprocket wheels 60. The function of the reciprocable rods 64 is to adjust the position of the sprocket wheels 60 relative to the spaced sprocket wheels 66 at the other end of the shakeout. The sprocket wheels 66 are disposed above and horizontally away from the sprocket Wheels 60, and they are mounted on a shaft, not shown. One sprocket chain 68 extends over one of the sprocket wheels 60 and one of the sprocket wheels 66 and another sprocket chain 68 extends over the other sprocket wheels 60 and 66. The two sprocket chains 68 will be in register with each other but will be spaced apart the distance between sprocket wheels 60 and between sprocket wheels 66. A motor 70 is mounted above and to one side of the shaft for the sprocket wheels 66; and a shaft of that motor will be connected to the shaft for sprocket wheels 66 by chains and sprocket wheels, not shown, within a chain guard 74. A gear box 72 is disposed between the chain guard 74 and the motor 78, and it will determine the rate of rotation of the sprocket wheels 66.

Guideways 76, 78, 80 and 82 are disposed adjacent the sprocket chains 68, and those guideways both support and guide the portions of sprocket chains 68 intermediate the sprocket wheels 60 and 66. The guideways 76 underlie the sprocket chains 68 on the upward portion of their travel, and the guideways 80 force the sprocket chains to follow arcuate paths immediately before they engage the guideways 76. The guideways 78 have curved sections adjacent the sprocket 66, and those guideways direct the downwardly moving portions of the sprocket chains 68 into closely spaced parallel relationship with the upwardly moving portions of those sprocket chains. The guideways 82 direct the chains 68 in their change from downward movement tohorizontally-directed movement. The guideways 80 and 82 are in effect stationary bull wheels, and they effect smooth changes of direction for the sprocket chains 68. In following the guideways 80, 76, 78 and 82, the chains 68 pass from the sprocket wheels 60, will pass under the discharge outlet 43 of the vibrating device 38, will pass over the guideways 76, will pass around sprocket wheels 66, and will pass over guideways 78 and under guideways 82 to sprocket wheels 60. The desired amount of tension can be created in the chains 68 by adjusting the setting of the reciprocable rods 64; thus adjusting the position of the shaft on which the sprocket wheels 68 are mounted.

The sprocket chains 68, and the guideways 76, 78, 80 and 82 are largely enclosed Within a housing 84. That housing protects the operators from contact with the sprocket chains 68. A discharge port 86 is provided in the housing 84 adjacent the sprocket wheels 66, and an exhaust port 88 is provided above the discharge port 86. This exhaust port can, if desired, be connected, by a flexible duct, to a suction fan; and that fan will draw air from the housing 84 and exhaust it exteriorly of the foundry building. The suction created by the suction fan will draw air into housing 84 from adjacent the vibrating device 38 and from adjacent discharge port 86. In addition, if desired, a flexible duct can be secured to the exhaust outlet 36 of the skip hoist housing and to the exhaust fan. Such an arrangement would facilitate withdrawal of air from the skip hoist housing 32. All of this is quite desirable because it will remove from the foundry the gases entrapped within the mold and will also remove sand-carrying air.

Each of the sprocket chains 68 has links 90, pins 92, rollers 94, and angle brackets 96. The pins are secured to the angle brackets 96, two pins to each bracket; and links 90 extend between the outer circles of every pin 92 while other links 90 extend between the pins 92 at, adjacent ends of adjacent angle brackets 96. The rollers 94 are rotatably mounted on the pins 92. The angle brackets 96 act, not only to support the pins '92, but also to hold the pins at properlyspaced distances. in addition, the angle brackets 96 act to secure the sprocket chains 68 to the sand-removing conveyor 98. As indicated particularly in Figs. 4 and 5, the sand-removing conveyor 98 is quite broad, and it spans the distance between the sprocket chains 65 The conveyor 98 is preferably made of a flexible but stout material, such as rubber-impregnated fabric; the flexibility of the conveyor permitting it to bend sharply as the sprocket chains 6% pass around sprocket wheels 6i) and 66.

The angle brackets 96 are secured to the conveyor 93 by nuts and bolts 99 which extend through openings in the angle brackets 96 and through openings in the conveyor 98. Spacers 100 are disposed between the lower surface of conveyors 98 and the upper surfaces of the angle brackets 96, and those spacers hold the center of the conveyor 98 in register with pitch line of the sprocket wheels 60 and 66. Thus there will be no tendency for the conveyor to be stretched or compressed as it moves around the sprocket wheels 60 and 66. Transverselydirected, upstanding projections 102, in the form of angles, are disposed along the length of the conveyor 98; and those projections are secured to the upper surface of conveyor 98. The projections 102 will be secured to the conveyor 98 by bolts and nuts 104 which extend through openings in the projections 162 and also through openings in the conveyor 98. Pressure-distributing plates 193 will be disposed adjacent the under surface of conveyor 9S and those plates will be in register with the projections 1492. The bolts will pass through the pressuredistributing plates 103 as well as the projections 162, and the pressure-distributing plates 103 will keep the bolts from pulling through the material of the conveyor 98. The projections 102 and the pressure-distributing plates 103 will provide transverse stifiening of the conveyor 93 and will enable that conveyor to support large quantities of sand without sagging. The projections 1492 will also act to hold the sand in position on the conveyor 98 as that conveyor moves upwardly in a direction parallel to guideways 76. With this arrangement the conveyor 98 will receive sand as it passes under the discharge outlet 43 of the vibrating device 38, and it will carry that sand upwardly toward sprocket wheels 66. As the conveyor 98 passes around sprocket wheels 66, the sand thereon will fall downwardly through the discharge port 86. A wheeled receptacle will be disposed below the discharge port 86 to receive the sand, and that wheeled vehicle can be connected to the wheeled support of the shakeout so it can move with that shakeout. The projections 102 are dimensioned so they will pass freely through the chain housing 84 without striking the sides, top or bottom of that housing.

Trapezoidal side plates 1% are secured to the edge of the conveyor '8 to keep the sand from falling off the sides of that conveyor. Those side plates are dimensioned so the bases thereof are narrower than the tops thereof, and they are secured along the conveyor in such close proximity that the trailing edge of each side plate 1% overlaps and extends rearwardly of the leading edge of the next succeeding side plate 106. The sides of the trapezoidal side plates 106 are inclined to the bases of those plates at such angles that the sides of the side plates are the radii of a circle which is smaller than the pitch circles of the sprocket wheels 6t) and 66. This makes certain that when the conveyor 93 passes around the sprocket wheels 66 andili, the leading and trailing edges of adjacent side plates will overlap fully from base to top. As a result, the trapezoidal side plates 1136 will provide a continuous Wall at each side of the conveyor $5 that can keep all of the sand on the conveyor. This prevents loss of the sand and also keeps that sand from entering and injuring the chains 68. A number of the trapezoidal side plates 106 are welded to the ends of projections 102, as shown in Fig. 7, but other of those plates are directly bolted to the conveyor 98. Vertically disposed plates 1G7 are welded to the plates 3% and to the angles 108, and those plates help stiffen the side plates 166.

The shakeont provided by the present invention is very useful beca'se it facilitates the removal of sand from castings with virtually no manual eifort required. In addition it raises the sand upwardly and deposits that sand in a wheeled receptacle, while it discharges the castings, sand lumps, metal pieces into another wheeled receptacle in using this shakeout, the operator sets lever 26 in its first position and presses pushbutton 25 or 27 'until the Wheeled support moves adjacent a roller conveyor 33 in the foundry. Thereafter the operator will set the lever 26 in its second position so the motor 28 can act through transmission 24, upon actuation of push button 34, to move the skip hoist receptacle. The motors and '70 are then set in motion, and castings with their adherent sand are slid along the roller conveyor into the skip hoist receptacle. Pressing of the push button 34 will cause the skip hoist receptacle to raise the castings upwardly within the skip hoist housing 32 and discharge those castings onto the apron 56 and the grid 42. The vibrations imparted to' grid 42 by the rotatable vibrationimparting equipment within housings 48 will free the sand from the castings; the sand passing through the large openings of grid 42. That sand will then pass to the discharge outlet 43 of the vibrating device 33 and come to rest on the conveyor 98. The castings will work their way down to the lower end of the grid 42 where they will eventually jump over bar 40 and drop from trough 44 into a wheeled receptacle. Any hard sand lumps and metal pieces will also work their way to the lower end of grid 42 and fall from trough 44 into the wheeled receptacle.

The sand which comes to rest on conveyor 98 will be moved upwardly to the vicinity of discharge port 86 and will be permitted to fall through that port. During all of these operations, air can, if desired, be exhausted from the exhaust ports 36 and 88; that air then being expelled from the foundry. Such movement of airwill carry air and its entrained sand and gases from the vicinity of skip hoist housing 32,'vibrating device 38, and conveyor 93. This will minimize the likelihood of respiratory diseases in the operators.

Whereas a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described in the drawing and accompanying description it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the form of the invention without affecting the scope thereof.

What I claim is:

1. In a wheeled platform that has a vibrating device and a sand-moving conveyor adapted to receive sand from said vibrating device and to convey said sand to a point remote from said vibrating device, the improvement which comprises a flexible belt, sprocket chains that are disposed oppositely of said .belt and are secured to and support said belt, sprocket wheels that are mounted on said platform to drive said chains and thereby drive said belt, side plates secured to said belt, said side plates being dimensioned so the trailing edge of each side plate overlaps and extends rearwardly and inwardly of the leading edge of the next succeeding side plate, whereby said side plates provide continuous walls at the opposite sides of said belt, said side plates being trapezoidal in configuration and having their narrowest widths at the surface of said belt, the narrowest widths of said side plates being shorter than the spacing between the links of said chains, and resilient supports extending between said platform and said vibrating device to minimize the transmission of vibrations from said vibrating device to said platform and to the elements thereon, the wheels of said wheeled platform being rotatable to help absorb vibrations imparted to said platform by said vibrating device.

2. In a wheeled platform that has .a vibrating device thereon and a sand-moving conveyor thereon adapted to receive sand from said vibrating device and to convey said sand to a point remote from said vibrating device, the improvement which comprises spaced sprocket chains secured to the opposite sides of said conveyor, sprocket wheels thatare mounted on said platform to support said sprocket chains, guideways that .are mounted on said platform to confine said sprocket chains and said conveyor for movement from a point below the discharge port of said vibrating device to a point above and to one side of said vibrating device, transversely-directed projections onsaid conveyor Ito stiffensaid conveyorand to limit the shifting of 'said sand relative to said conveyor, and resilient supports extending between said platform and saidvibrating device to minimize the trans- 9 mission of vibrations from said vibrating deviceto said platform and to the elements thereon, the wheels of said wheeled platform being rotatable to help absorb vibrations imparted to said platform by said vibrating device.

secured to the opposite sides of said conveyor, sprocket Wheels that are mounted on said platform to support said sprocket chains, guideways that are mounted on said platform to confine said sprocket chains and said conveyor for movement from a point below the discharge port of said vibrating device to a point above and to one side of said vibrating device, transversely-directed projections on said conveyor to stiffen said conveyor and to limit the shifting of said sand relative to said conveyor, a housing that is mounted on said platform and that closely surrounds said conveyor, an exhaust port,

said exhaust port being releasably connectible to a suction fan to draw air and entrained sand from the vicinity of said conveyor, and resilient supports extending be tween said platform and said vibrating device to minimize the transmission of vibrations from said vibrating device to said platform and to the elements thereon, the wheels of said wheeled platform being rotatable to help absorb vibrations imparted to said platform by said vibrating device.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 878,650 Manning Feb. 11, 1908 1,027,115 Fahnestock May 21, 1912 1,027,316 Brown May 21, 1912 1,146,866 Graper July 20, 1915 1,468,545 Robey Sept. 18, 1923 1,849,385 Sekulski Mar. 15, 1932 1,906,642 Sibson et al. May 2, 1933 2,072,009 Moore Feb. 23, 1937 2,264,810 Robbins Dec. 2, 1941 2,398,177 Elliott Apr. 9, 1946 2,420,520 Carsey et al. May 13, 1947 2,488,381 Davies Nov. 15, 1949 

